Tuesday, April 11, 2017

The Letter I: Indus (and an afternoon paddle)

Today we’re at the letter I, and there is only one
constellation associated with this letter: Indus. Unlike the other constellations mentioned so
far, I’ve not been able to make this one out.
It’s found deep in the southern sky and contains no outstanding
stars. With the exception of Sagittarius
(which is seen low on the Southern horizon from my latitude, I don’t know the
other constellations that surround Indus.
Of course, with Sagittarius being low in the horizon and Indus further
south, it is unlike that I have had much time to see it except for the few
times I’ve been near the equator. This constellation
doesn’t have any great stars. There are
no great mythological stories associated by it.
It’s also a relatively young constellation, being named by Petrus
Plancius, a Dutch astronomer is the 17th Century. I suppose at the time, the Dutch were sailing
ships off to the East Indies and had plenty of time at night to add a few
constellations in the southern sky.
Indus is an Indian, and is depicted as a naked man holding arrows. It could be Indians from either Asia or from
South America.

Preparing to leave Raccoon Key

In other news, after not having a day off in a couple of
weeks, I took the afternoon off and paddled over to Raccoon Key, where I
pitched a hammock and took a nap, delighting in the sound of wind blowing
through palm fronds. The pictures below
are from my mini-expedition.

What a lovely outing! I'd never heard of Indus, but I think, having read your post, now I know why. It also just kinda looks like some super random stars thrown together. I get the Dippers, or Orion's belt, but this one...

Paddling then napping sounds like an excellent way to spend a day off. Interesting that Indus is a fairly recent constellation, which I suppose explains why there's no story attached to it. It should be a rule that if you're going to "discover" a constellation, then you need to come up with a story for why it's there. ;)

Musings

This blog contains observations on life and nature written by Sage, satire and parody written by Nevada Jack, and an occasional book review or poem. As a general rule, the author of the blog doesn't write about his work or his family. Email at sagecoveredhills [at] gmail.com